Making Winter

Youngest in a wood last week

That slight feeling of foreboding as we move towards November is simmering, as ever, at the back of my consciousness. The ‘w’ word is looming -the time when I tend to feel at best rather flat and at worst like a hedgehog with a hangover who was just rudely awoken by a Roman candle. The dahlias have drooped, the roses are on their last gasp and even my sedum’s looking seedy. Weeks of slate grey skies lie ahead. Winter is approaching.

Then I remembered the joy of the project I ran with Mrs Thrifty four years ago. During Making Winter we shared ways to embrace the colder months. It was a joyous combination of dense, comforting puddings, beautiful, soothing yarncraft, hedgerow liqueurs, cosying up round open fires, winter walks and gathering trips that led to nature tables and beautiful wreaths. There may also have been the odd hand stitched hedgehog.

A soothing, meditative wip

It seemed to provide a sort of online cosy crafting bee with added gratuitous pictures of cake. I felt rather sad when March 2012 arrived. It was over. The hundreds of people who joined in went their separate ways and travelled on happily into Spring. I missed them. I missed the cake-based camaraderie and the innumerable truly gorgeous ideas, recipes and patterns that made what can be the months of gloom immeasurably cheerier.

Many people asked me if I’d run it again.

Tiny spot of treasure

So I am.

A week today, on the 1st of November, Making Winter ’15-’16 shall begin. It shall be a creative survival guide to the colder months. A place to come when dinginess creeps in in February, when the lead up to the ‘c’ word is making you want to build a raft out of wooden crochet hooks and set sail for uncharted waters where there is absolutely no tinsel, accompanied by a seagull called Dave.

I hope to rebuild that gorgeous, handknitted, homebaked, slightly twinkly, supportive, encouraging ‘we CAN keep chipper (ish) till March’ precious yet transient group of both lovers and haters of winter who for a few short months got together to make our way to Spring.

Made in one of my workshops recently

I’ve invented a hashtag for the Instagram: #making_winter if you fancy sharing the ways in which you’re celebrating or cheering yourself through the coming months.

Do you find winter tricky? Perhaps this can help. If you adore the weeks between November and March then it would be wonderful if you could share your favourite homemade recipes, patterns or tips to help others (including me) enjoy what they usually just about endure.

I’ll be hosting a bloghop during the first few days of every month until March 2016 starting next Sunday, 1st November. If you fancy posting during that week with:

what’s on your needles,

your baked triumphs,

treasures you may have found in a hedgerow,

the beanie you knitted for Bernard

the afternoon you simply had to scoff your body weight in cake because it was so blimmin” dreary outside

and linking up it would be WONDERFUL-others can then leg it over to yours to see the heartening joy. I have some lovely guest bloggers lined up with seasonal loveliness and I had so many requests to exchange handwritten letters with me during the summer that I plan to link people up with one another for the new wintry version of handwritten project. Snailmail to cheer a dreich January day? Oh yes.

Dedication eh? But needs must when the skies are the colour of last Sunday’s dishwater.

Oh you have come to my rescue, I find the colder, gloomy months of what seems never ending winter days, jolly difficult to hack! So do please count me in, this sounds an amazingly brilliant plan of yours and I so enjoy coming on over to your fabulous site anyway! Hot, homemade soup, warming cold hands round a steaming mug of cocoa, twinkling fairy lights, a roasty, toasty real fire, just a few of my favourite things for winter!

Oh ill definitely be joining in. I struggle with winter and the grey gloom working long days I feel i don't see enough daylight and working in gift retail has made me dread the C word. I look forward to being part of a cosy community x

Oh ill definitely be joining in. I struggle with winter and the grey gloom working long days I feel i don't see enough daylight and working in gift retail has made me dread the C word. I look forward to being part of a cosy community x

Emma, it's fun for me to see this lovely post of yours this Sunday evening, after having worked a full eight hours. Getting to take this dip into your own wintry viewpoints, and memories of some wonderful prior year's explorations of how we redirect our creative inspiration and projects as daily sunlight lessens its glow…well, I would love to take part in what you've suggested.

I'd also like to tell you that those silvery holly leaves and berries really caught my eye.

Emma, every time I see one of your posts, and start to leave you a message, what I do wish is that I'd spent more time chatting with you at the Selvedge Fair. Gosh…what year was that?

I'm in! I'm already on the knitting for c…; but I love the baking and sweetie-making too. I set myself a project last year to prove that the sky isn't *always* grey here in winter, might have to kick that into gear again.

Sounds like just my cup of tea and your idea of making a raft and setting sail for somewhere without tinsel made me smile – now where are the crochet hooks? I'm off and will take with me the computer so I can see what the rest of you are up to and maybe join in too.

The Green Rabbit calendar refuses to allocate winter with any more than one month and that's December, November is still Autumn and January and February are pre Spring, that's just how it is around here.I'm quite sure I'll be using your hashtag on IG in the months to come, I did enjoy #makingjuly !

i think i already came here to say i would love to share handwritten letters. Well, at least handwritten notes. Given that i've abused them in the garden and on the computer and the carpal tunnel thing raises its ugly head from time to time, i can promise handwritten letters sometimes, but notes any time. :^)

What a good idea. You say just what I feel about winter. Spring is my time. Winter up here so often involves wind, rain and endless mud. I have been reading and thinking about the Danish concept of hygge which sounds really appealing. I am going to blog about it so that might be my first contribution. So pleased to be part of this! Thank you!